Shabby thanks for the first scouting report of the season. I can not wait to get to Hyannis. Wagner turned some heads in Anaheim as well according to the Ducks blogs. I love the fact that the D are all so young and got a ton of game experience last year. That only means a much calmer game in our own end. How sweet would it be for a #1 goalie to step up and put up a save percentage in the high 90's?

I was bouncing around the Colgate athletics website today and couldn't find anything about game broadcasts on line like last year. GR any insight into whether games will be broadcast on-line?

TheValleyRaider

09-16-2010, 09:38 PM

Wagner has a pro stride and does not look like a frosh, will open some eyes this year. Team speed is very good, defense should be stronger as all the sophs have a year of experience now. We need for one of the goalies to step it up...that would help immensely. Optimism building here !!

Right now, that's the one thing holding me back from really expecting a great season. I know they turned to Evin down the stretch, but he's got to really seize the job again. Take the next step and all that

I was bouncing around the Colgate athletics website today and couldn't find anything about game broadcasts on line like last year. GR any insight into whether games will be broadcast on-line?

The athletics website released this PDF near the end of August. It just covers the early part of the Fall semester, so not a lot of home ice action, but the SilverPuck games (Princeton, Quinnipiac) are there. Hopefully the Brown/Yale games before Thanksgiving get added later on. Odd, no coverage of the opener against Sacred Heart?

'Gate Radio

09-17-2010, 12:03 AM

Sorry, I've been swamped the past few days with All-Access and preparing for four games in three days this weekend.

In terms of game broadcasts this year, there won't be any changes. Every game, as long as I don't get detained at the Canadian border on the Lake State trip (LOL), will be on 93.9 FM and simulcast on TEAMLINE. We'll have pre-game coverage 15 minutes prior to face-off and then the usual intermission and post-game shows.

For TV, the official schedule hasn't been released but I can say that there are the usual number of five-six games on Time Warner and then there is the ESPNU game against Princeton in early January. This may be added to, I'm honestly not sure what CBS College Sports is doing. Any NHL Network game would be picked up from Time Warner.

The rest of the home games will be on All-Access as far as I know. The schedue that is up now is subject to change.

Gaterrooter

09-17-2010, 06:37 AM

Great, that's the info I was looking for on the Broadcasts.

sshablak

09-17-2010, 02:26 PM

Just like that.....Penn State says "Let's have hockey", so an alumnus donates 88 million for the program and a state of the art facility !!! Don't we have any rich alumnus ??? We need a new barn sooo bad.

FlagDUDE08

09-17-2010, 05:57 PM

Just like that.....Penn State says "Let's have hockey", so an alumnus donates 88 million for the program and a state of the art facility !!! Don't we have any rich alumnus ??? We need a new barn sooo bad.

I wouldn't knock your barn. You have some of the fastest ice probably in NCAA Division I. I like the atmosphere of where you guys play.

sshablak

09-18-2010, 06:56 AM

Dude...Out of curiosity, where did u get that info ?? Something good about Starr ??

Gaterrooter

09-21-2010, 12:13 PM

ECAC Media day is today in Atlantic City I believe. Take a look at the new ECAC Hockey website. They did a real nice job on it.

Gaterrooter

09-21-2010, 12:23 PM

Despite losing some key players, Union and RPI are picked high in the ECAC Hockey preseason polls.

The Dutchmen, who need to replace top-scoring forwards Mario Valery-Trabucco and Jason Walters and defenseman Mike Schreiber were picked to finish third in the coaches and media poll, it was announced Tuesday at Atlantic City's famed Boardwalk Hall and Convention Center. The Dutchmen, who reached the ECACH tournament championship game last season for the first time in their Division I history, received 86 points in the coaches poll, and earned 276 points in the media poll. Union received one first-place vote in the media poll.
It is their highest finish ever in both polls.

While Union lost Valery-Trabucco, Walters and Schreiber to graduation, RPI was hit hard by two key departures last month. ECACH Rookie of the Year Jerry D'Amigo signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, while Brandon Pirri agreed to a contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. Both players had three years of college eligibility.

Still, the coaches and media have plenty of faith in the Engineers, who have the league's Player of the Year, forward Chase Polacek, returning for his senior year. RPI finished fourth in the coaches poll with 79 points, and fifth in the media poll with 211 points.

Two-time defending ECACH regular-season champion Yale is the overwhelming favorite to make it three straight. The Bulldogs earned 11 first-place votes in the coaches poll and got 121 points. In the media poll, Yale got 25 first-place votes and 354 points.

The coaches and media agreed on Cornell (second), Dartmouth (sixth), Quinnipiac (eighth), Brown (11th) and Clarkson (12th). They disagreed on Colgate (fifth in the coaches, fourth in the media), Harvard (seventh in the coaches, 10th in the media), St. Lawrence (ninth in the coaches, seventh in the media) and Princeton (10th in the coaches, ninth in the media).

Polacek was picked in the coaches and media preseason all-conference team. Union's Keith Kinkaid was the media's choice for goalie, while the coaches went with RPI's Allen York.

Yale's Brock Little and Colgate's Austin Smith are the other forwards on both teams. The coaches and media agreed on defenseman Evan Stephens of Dartmouth. The coaches chose St. Lawrence's George Hughes as their other defenseman, while the media went with Cornell's Nick D'Agostino.

Dude...Out of curiosity, where did u get that info ?? Something good about Starr ??

He made it up.

Wicked Slappaahs

09-21-2010, 01:26 PM

Just like that.....Penn State says "Let's have hockey", so an alumnus donates 88 million for the program and a state of the art facility !!! Don't we have any rich alumnus ??? We need a new barn sooo bad.

Just to be accurate, the PSU donor is really, really rich....somewhere north of $5 billion net worth. :p

Wicked Slappaahs

09-21-2010, 01:27 PM

... Take a look at the new ECAC Hockey website. They did a real nice job on it.

Does not compute...:p

Gate93

09-22-2010, 12:03 PM

Anybody know anything about Austin Mayer? Transferred in from Providence and is listed as a Senior but a Providence newspaper article indicates he has two years of eligibility left. Appears he was part of a wave of transfers pre-2009/10.

Gaterrooter

09-22-2010, 03:00 PM

Not sure how many years he has left. Kid has lightning fast speed up and down the wing. He will surely help this years team.

'Gate Radio

09-22-2010, 05:12 PM

One would assume he has two years left under NCAA rules since he played just two years at Providence. That said, academically, he is a senior with three years of schooling already under his belt.

ColSkate65

09-22-2010, 05:56 PM

RPI and Union must have brought in great recruiting classes to be ranked so high while losing all that talent. Dartmouth may jump over them both - and us? -- in making the top four this year. Just MHO...:eek:

hockeyenthusiast

09-22-2010, 07:56 PM

Colskate, I may be an optimist, but I feel that this year could be one of the likes of 03-04 or 05-06 with the potential for a happier ending. Besides, what makes you think that of Dartmouth?

I think we'll be in the top 3. Just take into consideration that we were a pretty young team last year and made it into the top 4. They are all older now. I expect McPherson to be a beast in defense, as well as Larkin and Price. Same with the other 4. I think we have the potential to have the strongest defensive corps in the league. Also, we don't know how the freshmen will turn out.

sshablak

09-23-2010, 07:10 AM

I agree with Colskate about Dartmouth. I don't know about jumping over us but I've read there's great expectations in Hanover.

'Gate Radio

09-23-2010, 09:34 AM

RPI and Union must have brought in great recruiting classes to be ranked so high while losing all that talent. Dartmouth may jump over them both - and us? -- in making the top four this year. Just MHO...:eek:

Had Pirri and D'Amigo not signed, RPI probably would have been a runaway at number two and possibly received votes for the top slot. One would think that some of the votes tallied in both polls were put in before Brandon Pirri signed with the Blackhawks. Without those two players, RPI is most likely a middle of the pack team and will be in the mix for home ice in the first round.

Union, while it does lose some very talented seniors, still has a good amount of talent. Given what other teams have coming back and the recent success of Nate Leaman's teams, I don't think it's a shock that they're near the top of the heap. Also, Union has one of the best goaltending tandems in the league in Keith Kincaid/Cory Milan.

A lot of people are high on Dartmouth, myself included. Sure, overall the record last year wasn't great but that was a very young team with only a few seniors. Dartmouth also finished last year 3-1-3 and put up a good fight in the playoffs against Quinnipiac. The Dartmouth team at Starr Rink in November and then the one that Colgate played in February in Hanover were two very different teams. Dartmouth, if the team maturation process continues and Jody O'Neill plays back to form, could be very dangerous.

Gate93

09-23-2010, 11:54 AM

Gate Radio beat me to it in a way but I did some number crunching this morning and can add some flavor to the analysis.

RPI - Loses 35% of its goal scoring (3 of top 4) and 41% of its point scoring. Yes Polacek is back but will there be too much weight on his shoulders without Pirri, D'amigo and Kerins? I doubt RPI was expecting to lose both its frosh phenoms so early so were they planning on bringing scoring help or bolstering the defense this year? Speaking of defense, they lose two 39 and a 29 game defensemen so there may be more pressure on the goaltending, particularly early in the season.

Union - Just can't see them performing up to their ranking - They return more of their scoring (losing 33% of goals and 29% of points) but this represents two major horses in Valery-Trabuco and the number two goal scorer/point getter Jason Walters. Maybe its just my fundamental mistrust of Union but I can't help thinking some of the returning players will drop off a bit with the loss of these two. I would imagine the Union frosh class will have some goal scoring potential, but RPI last year an exception, its rare to get huge production from a forward in their first year (the top 4 frosh point getters last year combined had fewer points than VT and Walter). In short, that is a ton of scoring to replace. On the goaltending side I'm not fully sold either, Kinkaid was 5th in the ECAC in GAA and 8th in Save %. Good, but not great, if Union has to rely on defense to win they may be in trouble. On the positive side they lose 2 senior D'men but bring back 2 frosh who were full time contributors.

Dartmouth - Bring back almost everyone - losing only their #4 goal scorer (#8 point generator). Gaudet's son was the only Sr. of 4 to play more than 20 games and the team returns 89% of its games played - players. They were rot-gut from a goaltending perspective last year but improved as time went on and are bringing in a highly touted tender. Frosh goaltenders can make an impact. If Dartmouth can continue last years late season success by tightening up at netminder and finding a bit more scoring they can be scary.

Colgate - Didn't realize how bad our goaltending really was from a statistical standpoint - 10/11 in GAA and 9/11 in Save % (Long better on paper in both regards) - Tending did seem a bit better later (10 of 14 games where opponents scored 2 or fewer goals last year came after January 1) and one would hope more experience at defense will help this year on that front. With DV carrying 4 goalies this year, hopefully we can improve last year's glaring weakness. Otherwise, excited about the returning forwards (Bourdon is the #2 returning soph scorer from last year behind only Yale's Williams and Larkin is in the top 10). Hopefully our defense can stay healthy! 7 on the roster when 6 play seems tight - maybe a few of the glut of forwards can skate back? Our losses seem limited - McIntyre obviously a big hit but Williams and Long eminently replaceable and Carty was limited to only 20 games last year (can't remember if that was injury related or not.)

Yale - Loses its #s 4,5 and 7 point getters (2, 4 and 8 as goal scorers) but still returns more 30+ point generators than Colgate had last year (despite playing 2 fewer games too). If goaltending can be improved they will be a killer - their best save % would have ranked 12th in the ECAC if they guy had played enough but he only played 6 games and was a senior. The next best tender came in 14th (of 15) in the conference (though he was 9th in GAA). Don't appear to have a huge impact class coming in (and no goaltenders) but the coaching/recruiting down there has been top notch since the Allain came in so maybe I am wrong about that.